Xuan Li Zheng v. Ashcroft
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
This petition for review arises from the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (BIA) denial of Petitioner Xuan Li Zheng’s motion to reopen her asylum application. Zheng illegally fled China, with the help of a Chinese smuggling group known as the “Snakeheads,” purportedly to avoid an arranged marriage. She was immediately detained in May 18, 1998 upon her illegal entry to the United States, but through a series of proceedings has remained in the United States, and since August 11, 2000, has been released from detention. This petition arises as follows: On July 26, 2003, Zheng moved the BIA to reopen her asylum application. 1 The BIA summarily denied the application, stating that “[although the respondent cites changes in her personal circumstances, she does not allege changed circumstances in China.” The BIA viewed Zheng’s changed personal circumstances as that “she has not made any attempt during the last two years to pay the fees she owes to the [Snake-heads].” If no material changed country circumstances were alleged, as the BIA concluded, the motion to reopen was untimely. Thus, the BIA denied reopening relief. Zheng petitions for review.